The title of this book begs a lot of questions, some of which the author seeks to answer in his introduction – but with limited success. For instance, while an attempt is made to define 'pseudo-history', one is never told how a 'pseudo-religion' differs from a real one.

Thereafter each of the six chapters deals with a particular theme of 'pseudo-history' or 'fake science'. The first chapter, called 'Atlantis: Mother of pseudo-history' will illustrate the problem. The chapter is an excellent piece of history, tracing the idea of Atlantis from Plato the present. It is fully documented in the best scholarly fashion, and as such is certainly not 'pseudo-history'. The conjecture that an island civilization was destroyed by a natural disaster is not incoherent, and while many of the associated stories are, they have to be viewed in the broader context of the belief /knowledge systems prevailing over the centuries. There were believers and sceptics, and a 16th-century Jesuit belonged to the latter; but he is cited as saying 'Some very intelligent men speak of [Atlantis] and discuss it very seriously'. As late as the end of the 19th century an ambitious work on Atlantis was well received by a number of scholars and scientists, and Fritze himself admits that 'in 1882 Atlantis represented a reasonable albeit unorthodox speculation about the events of the distant past.' Of course that can no longer be said of the fantastic yarns spun by occultists, or the still widespread folk notion of Atlantis. The general question then arises at what stage the story of Atlantis became pseudo-history? And does not the pejorative label 'pseudo' constitute merely retrospective wisdom?

If this matter has been dealt with at some length, it is because much the same conceptual issues arise throughout this work. At the same time it should be stressed that this is no reflection on the quality of the fascinating historical surveys presented.

Chapter two deals with the' pseudo-histories' of the discovery of America, one of which (by Scandinavians) turned out not to be 'pseudo'. Chapters three and four are concerned with religiously inspired racial fanaticism, respectively Christian and by the black sect known as 'the nation of Islam'. The oddly named chapter five (Pseudohistoria Epidemica or pseudohistorians in collusion) refers to some unusual geological and cosmological speculations, some of which were of sufficient interest to Einstein that he was persuaded to write a foreword to one of the books. Finally, 'Professors gone wild: The Black Athena controversy' concerns the claim that Greek culture was imported from black Egyptians. This aroused much discussion among authorities, but the thesis was ultimately demolished.

It is unfortunate that the solid scholarship displayed in these stimulating essays is concealed by catchy titles that often bear scant relation to the content.

Gustav Jahoda, Ph.D. is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. His main fields of interest are cross-cultural and social psychology, especially the development of social cognition. He is the author of A History of Social Psychology (Cambridge University Press).

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